The present invention relates generally to an analytical method, and more particularly to a simple and rapid method for the detection of sugars in food and beverage items.
Diabetes is a major health issue in the United States. In fact, diabetes mellitus, the most prevalent form of diabetes, is the fourth most common reason for patient contact with a physician and is a major cause of premature disability and mortality. It is the leading cause of blindness among working-age people, of end-stage renal disease, and of non-traumatic limb amputations. It increases the risk of cardiac, cerebral, and peripheral vascular disease two- to seven-fold and is a major cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality.
Personal factors promoting diabetes are well known. Increased age, reduced physical activity, and especially obesity promote diabetic conditions. In particular, severe and prolonged obesity is understood to substantially enhance the risk of the disease. However, medical data now indicate that most of the debilitating complications of the disease can be prevented or delayed by prospective treatment of the above-mentioned risk factors. For most diabetic individuals, particularly those having Type II diabetes, diet and exercise are the key intervention required to restore metabolic control. In this regard, it is desirable for diabetic individuals, or those at risk of diabetes, to carefully monitor their diet as modest maintenance of a low sugar diet often leads to substantial reductions in diabetic symptoms. In addition, individuals suffering from Type I diabetes, an often more severe condition than Type II, must rely on exogenous sources of insulin due to an absent or reduced insulin secretion ability. Departures from a consistent diet require active adjustment of insulin dosages and increase the chances of dangerous, health-threatening mistakes in dosage delivery.
In light of the above, a simple and rapid method useful in determining the presence of sugars in food and beverage items is desirable for individuals who must closely monitor their carbohydrate intake. Specifically, a method efficient at providing a quick and clear indication of the presence of sugars in food and beverage items would be found useful and welcomed by a multitude of diabetic individuals. In addition, those with a general interest in weight loss, a popular pursuit in our current society, would also find such a method useful. Also, food manufacturers, distributors and retailers would have a great interest in a convenient method for monitoring the sugar content of their respective food products, especially those offered to the public as diet or low-calorie items.
A method useful for fulfilling the requirements highlighted above would ideally be in kit format allowing a user to conveniently carry out the method at any time without the need for complex manipulations and apparatus. In the case of test reagents useful in a kit format, it is generally desired that the reagents contain all necessary components in a pre-mixed state in order to reduce as much as possible the opportunity for errors arising from mixing of several components. Test reagents should also remain stable for as long as possible to avoid having to prepare new solutions continuously. Unfortunately, previously known methods did not fulfill these requirements. For example, enzymatic determination of glucose by use of the enzymes glucose oxidase and peroxidase requires the continual preparation of new enzymatic reagents as the enzyme components are unstable for long periods of time once diluted in a working test reagent. Obviously, this method is not convenient for those interested in a quick and convenient determination of sugar content in a snack or meal. Likewise, chemical indicators, particularly methylene blue, are subject to rapid photodegradation thereby making long term storage and use of such test reagents by consumers all but impossible.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a simple, rapid and relatively low priced method of detecting sugars in a liquid sample. The method includes an initial step of selecting an indicator capable of producing a colorimetric change when contacted with a reducing sugar. Indicators suitable for use in the invention are selected from the phenazine class of compounds and include azocarmine B, indoine blue, methylene violet 3RAX, safranine O, phenosafronin, and Janus Green B. Once selected, the indicator is preferably dissolved or diluted in water to form an aqueous solution and the pH of the aqueous solution is adjusted to be alkaline by the addition of a base, such as NaOH, KOH, Sr(OH)2, Ba(OH)2, and NH4OH. Thusly prepared, the aqueous test reagent is particularly resistant to photodegradation and stable for long periods of time thereby eliminating the need to continually prepare fresh test reagent.
Subsequent to preparation, the method according to the present invention calls for the test reagent to be brought into contact with a sample. Reducing sugars, if present in the sample, cause the indicator in the test reagent to undergo a calorimetric change. Preferably, this calorimetric change is clearly visible to the naked eye of the user and provides definitive proof of the presence of a reducing sugar in the sample.
The method according to the invention may also include an additional step wherein the sample is pretreated with a glycosidase, such as invertase, prior to contacting the sample with the test reagent. This step allows nonreducing sugars, such as sucrose, to be converted into reducing forms capable of detection by the reducing sugar-specific indicator.
The invention also encompasses preparation of the test reagent by the addition of a material pre-absorbed with indicator to an aqueous solution thereby dissolving the indicator present in the pre-adsorbed material to form fresh test reagent. The indicator pre-adsorbed material offers the distinct advantage of maintaining the indicator in a dry, easily-stored form prior to carrying out the method.
Various other features, objects, and advantages of the invention will be made apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the invention.
In general, the invention disclosed herein may be used to detect the presence of sugars in samples. Appropriate samples may be liquid, solid or a combination of liquid and solid. An appropriate liquid may be a beverage item and an appropriate solid may be a food item.
Indicators useful with the present invention include compounds belonging generally to the phenazine class. Specifically, azocarmine B (1), indoine blue (2), methylene violet 3RAX (3), safranine O (4), phenosafronin (5), Janus Green B (6) and combinations thereof as shown below. 
The preceding list is meant to be illustrative and not inclusive of all compounds from the phenazine class which are useful with the invention. However, not all phenazines are effective with the present invention. For instance, neutral red (7), shown above, fails to give a color change in the presence of reducing sugars. Compounds from other chemical classes, such as phenothiazine, phenoxazine, xanthine, acridine, anthraquinone, azo and sulfonephthalein classes, do not show the resistance to photodegradation exhibited by compounds within the phenazine class. Thus, compounds in the phenazine class are considered an improvement over non-phenazine compounds in regard to the present invention. Janus Green B is the preferred indicator for carrying out the invention.
The indicators useful in the invention are believed to undergo calorimetric changes visible to the naked eye in response to electron transfer reactions between the indicator and a reducing agent capable of donating electrons. The reducing agent is a reducing sugar in the case of the invention. As an example, blue-colored Janus Green B in alkaline media may be reversibly converted into a gray colored compound by an electron transfer from a reducing agent molecule to a Janus Green B molecule.
The term sugar, as used herein, includes both reducing and non-reducing sugars. A reducing sugar is defined as any sugar in which the carbonyl (anomeric) carbon is not involved in a glycosidic bond and can therefore undergo oxidation. Reducing sugars may include simple monosaccharides such as glucose, fructose, galactose, mannose and arabinose. Reducing sugar also encompasses homo- and heteropolysaccharides having a terminal sugar with a free anomeric carbon, thus allowing the terminal residue to act as a reducing residue.
Nonreducing sugars, as defined herein, are sugars lacking a free anomeric carbon. Such sugars do not bear a free carbonyl group capable of oxidation to a carboxylic acid. An example of a nonreducing sugar commonly found in food and beverage items is sucrose. Sucrose lacks a free carbonyl group capable of oxidation to a carboxylic acid. In order to detect nonreducing sugars in the present invention, an additional step of degrading the nonreducing sugar to subunits, some of which are reducing sugars, is included. Degradation of nonreducing sugars may be accomplished by enzymatic or chemical approaches in the present invention. For example, the enzyme invertase, a glycosidase, is useful to pretreat a sample suspected of containing sucrose in order to degrade sucrose to its glucose and fructose subunits, both of which are reducing sugars. Invertase is a specific example further illustrated below but other glycosidases capable of hydrolyzing bonds between sugar subunits are envisioned to be within the scope of the invention. Alternatively, a nonenzymatic approach to degradation of nonreducing sugars may be by acid hydrolysis, carried out by the simple acidification of a sample for a brief period prior to contact with the indicator.
The following is a description of the preferred method by which the invention may be carried out by a user. The method may be carried out in a reagent reservoir, or container, in which the reaction between a test reagent and any reducing sugar present in a sample can be visualized by a user. Such a container could be a vial, preferably a snap top vial constructed of polypropylene. Suitable snap top vials are available from Evergreen Scientific, 2300 East 49th Street, P.O. Box 58248, Los Angeles, Calif. 90058-0248. However, any container capable of containing the test reagent and suitable for providing a chamber in which contact of the test reagent and the food item is facilitated is suitable as long as the criteria set forth herein are satisfied. The container will be of a convenient size to carry or fit in a kit format, will include a reliable sealing enclosure, will have a construction not subject to decomposition by the alkaline test reagent (e.g.; polypropylene, polyethylene, polystyrene polymers), and will include a transparent or translucent portion for allowing a user to visually identify any calorimetric changes in the test reagent indicative of the presence of reducing sugars.
The preferred test reagent for carrying out the method contains 25 drops (approximately 0.45 mL) of a 0.4 N aqueous solution of NaOH (Aldrich Chemical Company, 1001 W. St. Paul Avenue, Milwaukee, Wis. 53233). As used herein, one drop is equal to approximately 0.018-0.020 mL. To this is added I drop of a 0.2% (w:w) aqueous solution of Janus Green B (Aldrich Chemical Company), (percentages throughout are weight:weight (w:w)). Alternatively, an indicator maybe not initially mixed with the 0.4 N NaOH solution during manufacture but the indicator, such as Janus Green B, may be adsorbed to an adsorbent material such as filter paper, cotton, or equivalent for addition to the NaOH solution immediately prior to carrying out the method. The adsorbent material pre-adsorbed with indicator at the equivalent of 1 drop of Janus Green B (0.2% w:w) may be placed into a snap top vial already containing the NaOH solution. The vial is then closed and briefly shaken to dissolve the Janus Green B into the NaOH solution thusly providing fresh test reagent. Although the phenazine class of compounds have been identified to provide enhanced stability and long term storage potential over and above other classes of compounds, use of pre-adsorbed indicator materials is envisioned to further improve the utility of the present invention.
To continue with the preferred embodiment of carrying out the invention, 5 drops of a liquid sample, such as a beverage, are added to the vial containing the test reagent and the snap top is closed. Alternatively, a solid food item approximating the volume of 5 drops may be added to the vial where a solid food item instead of a beverage is being tested. The small volume of liquid or solid sample utilized ensures that interference with the invention""s colorimetric determination is minimized due to discoloring effects of food additives or dyes present in the sample. The vial is then inverted or shaken to uniformly mix the components.
Any color change in the test reagent is then observed after a brief and not inconvenient time period is allowed to pass. Depending upon the indicator used, this time period may range from less than 1 minute to approximately 15 minutes. Indicators having short time periods (1-2.5 minutes) are, of course, preferred to make the invention especially convenient for use. In addition, any color change observed in the method according to the invention may be compared with a standard solution included in the kit consisting of the test reagent alone to which five drops of water have been added so that any ambiguity is removed from the calorimetric determination by providing a comparative standard.